I realized before I went out to the Fulton County Fair out in Wauseon that I hadn’t used my Lomo LC-A in a good three years, since the Bob Mould show in Detroit back in October ’05. So, I loaded up with two cameras for the fair: the digital point-and-shoot, for pics to post online ASAP; and the Lomo, for artsy, low-light pics of carnival rides.

I took a whole roll of hopefully-artsy photos of people and rides and buildings, trying to recapture the look and feel of my old Wood County Fair pics from back in 2002. Burned through the whole roll, sent it off to Snapfish, and awaited my scans and photos.

Alas, it appears I should have tested the camera first. The shutter isn’t firing. I got back not a roll of artsy photos, but a replacement roll of film.

So, after the disappointing performance of the XA at the Matthew Sweet show, I decided to look into fixing my Lomo. See, the Lomo is fully automatic, while the XA is aperture-priority, so the Lomo actually might have performed better in those conditions. Anyway, I Googled “lomo shutter repair,” and found a site I’d actually used the last time I had to repair the Lomo (again, three years ago), which reminded me that maybe I just need to get some new batteries. *facepalm*

But. If it’s not just the batteries…

Maybe I should look for a new Lomo.

Checked on lomography.com: $250. Heck, no. Checked on eBay: $150-ish. Not entirely OK with spending that much, either. I mean, it does make unique pictures, but I only use it a few times a year, if that.